The 24th edition of Cyprus Film Days positions cinema as a space where memory, emotion and lived reality remain central.
Insisting on life in uncertain times
The festival is built around a clear philosophical position: insisting on life is not an act of denial. It is a necessary and radical response to a world where images of destruction and instability often dominate public discourse.
Cyprus Film Days 2026 explores how cinema restores visibility to stories, histories and experiences that risk being forgotten. By placing human presence at the centre of storytelling, the festival reinforces the idea that every life carries dignity, meaning and narrative value.
Life, presence and resistance
Under the thematic framework Life, Presence and Resistance, this year’s programme examines what it means to remain human in an era increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence, simulation and digital mediation.
The festival highlights elements that cannot be replicated by technology: emotion, memory, consciousness and physical presence. Cinema becomes a tool of resistance, preserving gestures, faces and lived experiences that might otherwise disappear.
The festival image: Elegant Gaze
The official poster of Cyprus Film Days 2026, titled Elegant Gaze, reflects these themes visually.
Designed by Philippos Vassiliades and inspired by the work of artist Sergis Hadjiadamos, the image is created from century-old glass negatives from the archive of Cypriot photographer Spyros Haritou. From this fragile material emerges the portrait of a young woman, where one surviving eye carries the emotional weight of presence.
The image unfolds like a still frame from an unwritten film, inviting viewers to reconstruct memory and meaning through fragments. It reflects how cinema preserves stories not through perfection, but through the fragile traces that time allows to survive.
Info
The festival is held with the support and auspices of the Deputy Ministry of Culture and is co-organised with Rialto Theatre.
The 24th Cyprus Film Days will take place from 17 to 25 April 2026 at Rialto Theatre and Zena Palace.
